The Elections Edition

An Nahar Newspaper + IMPACT BBDO

Lebanon was collapsing, suffering from historically high inflation that has thrown 75% of its population under the poverty line. A nation in pain waited in hope for the 2022 elections, but in an outrageous and blatant attempt to obstruct democracy, government officials complained that shortages of paper and ink needed to print ballots could cancel the upcoming elections. AnNahar, Lebanon's leading newspaper, has had a historical role in protecting the sanctity of free speech and Lebanon’s fragile democracy. So we decided to go silent for the first time in 88 years. On Feb2nd, the daily newspaper did not print. Instead, the paper and ink that were to be used for that day's edition were instead used towards a greater cause - the printing of voting ballots. Trucks delivered that days’ entire supply of paper and ink to the government’s printing associate. Thousands of Lebanese people walked to newsstands to find empty racks displaying a single message: The ink and paper intended for today’s edition has been sent towards the printing of voting ballots for the 2022 election. A QR code directed people to the newspaper's online version, which explained the cause behind the issue that never went to print.

With this move, An-Nahar would send the Lebanese government a powerful message, showing the world that none of their reasons would validate any attempt to take away a decisive election from the people of Lebanon.

The online edition that day became the highest-read in AnNahar's history. After this activation, the government stopped using the excuse of paper shortages to print ballots. The campaign was heavily covered locally by political shows, top broadcast channels and competing newspapers. Even election candidates joined in, offering support for the movement.

Enough paper and ink was donated from this edition to print ballots for the entire voting population of Lebanon. On May 15, the 2022 Lebanese elections took place as scheduled. And for the first time, reformist newcomers won 25% of the country’s parliamentary seats, heralding a new future for the country.

Watch the work, here

Hack Market

Back Market + Marcel

Ranked #18 Most Innovative Company in the World by FastCompany in 2022, Back Market aims to make refurbished a sustainable alternative to transform the hi-tech industry.

Communication has the power to drive change by unlocking cultural habits, and sometimes it needs to break a few rules on the way. Like, advertising precisely on the devices we don’t want people to purchase.

With “Hack Market”, Back Market challenged the biggest brand in the world to provoke consumers in a fun and simple way. To make people understand that “newest” isn’t always “best”, and that buying old devices actually is a source of progress.

Watch the work, here

Bring Home The Bud

Anheuser-Busch InBev - Budweiser + Wieden+Kennedy

Two days before the kick-off of the World Cup, Budweiser was banned from selling beer to fans around the stadiums. With that, Bud was left with a warehouse full of beer that could not be sold. That was when we decided to make the most of the tricky situation: we announced we'd give away all the Budweiser to whoever won the World Cup. We started a movement called #BringHomeTheBud. It all began with a tweet announcing our bold move 24 hours after the ban was announced. This tweet turned the tides and swept away the negativity that was surrounding the brand. Within a couple of days, we pivoted our entire media plan to evolve at the speed of the tournament. When teams won, we showed up overnight, dropping crates to tease fans that the Buds could be theirs. We created field boards, OOHs, and social content. In 10 days, we had already executed the campaign in 8 markets, gained a significant amount of press and earned coverage - we even landed ourselves on UK's gameshow "Big Fat Quiz". Immediately after Argentina's victory, we gave away all the World Cup beer, via a strong DTC strategy, with parties all over the world.

Watch the work, here.

Burger Glitch 

Burger King + DAVID (Brazil)

To position itself in the gamer universe, Burger King needed to get closer to the gamer community speaking the same language as them. But without losing the authenticity of the brand.

So Burger King became Burger Glitch, bringing a fun point of view on the defects that are increasingly recurring in video games.

We turned real glitches into food discounts. We created promotions with glitches in our app. We even put glitches on our Whopper. Bringing a fresh experience and a Burger King way of seeing the glitches in games: even when things go wrong they can be delicious.

Impossible Combo 

Burger King + DAVID (Brazil)

It’s been a constant conversation all over the internet: the perfect Fast-food Combo should be made of a Burger King Whopper sided with McFries. And it always sounded impossible, since th rivalry between the two business. Well, that’s exactly the experience Burger King created to its consumers, in partnership with the biggest food delivery app in Brazil (Rappi). For a limited amount of time, people were able to use their mobile phones to order a BK Whopper and receive at home what was called “The Impossible Combo”.

Get F**cked By The Government

Dame + Mischief @ No Fixed Address 

80% of Americans believe in the legal right to abortion. That means anti-choice politicians are f*cking us. So sexual pleasure brand Dame offered us a way to f*ck them back– all while registering voters and raising money for the National Network of Abortion Funds. We used this campaign to supercharge the conversation before the midterms, encouraging that 80% of Americans to f*ck these anti-choice politicians by voting them out. It picked up over 1 billion earned impressions and was touted as “the best pro-abortion campaign we’ve ever seen” and “a perfect protest” by popular media outlets. 

The hardest part about creating this idea wasn’t proving that it would cause conversation.  It was partnering with a brand brave enough to lead that conversation. 

But as a brand that cares deeply about sexual wellness and the rights of women, Dame was the perfect brand to take this stance. This was Mischief’s first project with them, so needless to say, we had to build a LOT of trust very quickly. We stayed close every step of the way to make sure we handled this very important and very nuanced topic in the most inclusive and effective way we could. We quickly partnered up after Roe v Wade was overturned and timed the launch right before the midterm elections so more important than sales, we could drive voter registration. 

Our only (very negligible) regret is that our Mitch dildo couldn't have glasses because of, um, very valid safety concerns.

Watch the work, here. 

Apologize The Rainbow

Mars Skittles and DDB Chicago + DDB New York 

Nine years ago we took away Lime flavor and pissed off a lot of Skittles fans. To finally re-launch Lime flavored Skittles, we decided to use something pretty unusual for a brand - all the online anger and hate directed at us. After all, nothing shows the love for something  like the anger when its taken away. So we literally apologized to everyone who ever complained – all 138,880 of them. Individually. Offering personal apologies live on Twitch, on Twitter, on billboards in Times Square and with a post listing every single person we’d wronged that took over 10 hours to read. And not just an empty apology. We sent everyone free Lime Skittles. Re-launching Lime Skittles by acknowledging our mistake in the most absurdly personal corporate apology ever.

Despite a 15.2% decrease in distribution of core Skittles items, Apologize The Rainbow helped drive a 7.4% lift in dollar sales, and record the brand’s highest US core sales in its history.  Core Skittles velocities also grew at more than 2x the rate of the category.  

In social media, ‘Lime Skittles’ conversation grew 162% year-on-year.  And on Twitter – Skittles’ most active community – total brand mentions were up +400% in the campaign’s first week.  

Multiple organic ‘Lime Skittles’ keywords also saw rapid rise after the campaign’s launch, and reached their highest query volumes to date:  

•       “Lime Skittles” +297% YoY
•       “Original Skittles Flavors” +103%
•       “Apple Skittles” +666%
•       “Are Lime Skittles Back” + >1,000%
•       “Bring Back Lime Skittles” +242%
•       “Green Apple Skittles” + >1,000+
•       “Green Skittles Flavor” +195%
•       “What Flavor is the Green Skittle” +216%
•       “Why Did Skittles Get Rid of Lime” + >1,000%

Watch the work, here 

Rejected Ales

Matilda Bay Brewery + Howatson+Company (Australia)

Selling the perfect beer by launching its almost perfect rejects. 

It took the Matilda Bay brewers 27 batches to create a beer that met their master brewer’s standards. They called it the Original Ale. To promote this perfect brew, we released the almost perfect rejects. Rejected Ales, the best beers you were never meant to taste. 

With the Matilda Bay brewers, we re-brewed the rejected batches of beer so the public could taste the journey to perfection. From hop ratios to alcohol levels, product naming to packaging design, we created an entire range of new beers. Despite being delicious, they were still failures. Which was exactly the point. As the better they tasted, the better they promoted the award-winning Original Ale. With names like ‘Yeah…nah’, ‘Keep dreaming’ and ‘Ballpark’, each of the 27 cans tells a story of its rejection, brought to life in fridges, outdoor, press, film, radio and sample packs for journalists. Rejected Ales and Original Ale were distributed in leading bottle stores, allowing Australia to discover the journey to perfection. 

In two weeks, we received: 14.8 million impressions, x11 sales increase of Original Ale, +17% increase in stockist distribution and one satisfied Master Brewer. 

Founded in 1983, Matilda Bay is Australia’s first craft brewery. Its founder and master brewer Phil Sexton, is widely known as the godfather of craft beer.  His commitment to perfection at all costs is legendary.

Watch the work, here

Penguin Random House + Rethink

Across the United States, books are being banned and burned at an alarming rate. In response to this wave of censorship, we worked with Penguin Random House to create an unburnable edition of The Handmaid’s Tale made entirely from fireproof materials. 

Then, we got Margaret Atwood to test it with a flamethrower.

The Unburnable Book launched at the 2022 PEN America Literary Gala and the one-of-a-kind copy was auctioned off at Sotheby’s New York for $130,000 with all proceeds going to support PEN America.

The campaign ignited a global conversation about censorship and was covered by major news outlets around the world – garnering more than 3.5 billion impressions and over $33 million in earned media.

Watch the work Here

Ulta and McCann NY